England Youth Football

Must admit,i was worried about that game..
After Hodgsons 2 efforts,then Southgates last u-21 effort..i thought hre we go again,after the first 2 games.
OK..if it was not being played in Poland,they would never have got there,they were poor.
Be we beat,who we must play..and beat them well...we have got better,but the next game V Germany??? we will see,but the GErmans are not as good as people think,Spain is something else,but if we play,as good as we know they can play,but when we have pressure??, if we play as good as we can,with no bad luck!!and maybe even some LUCK...here is an even drunker Engländer

So they we go folks, 4 teams meet their own old enemies in the semi finals on Tuesday.

England V Germany @ 5pm
&
Spain V Italy @ 8pm

As for the game, I thought Italy were far superior tonight and deserved the win (although its debatable about Germany's performance as the commentators thought Germany were intentionally playing sub par to avoid Spain in the semi finals)......Who knows?

Gotta feel sorry for Slovakia though, finished with the same points as Italy but had a better goal difference than them, but still got booted out of the competition.

As iv'e said before (although it doesn't matter to us English fans) but the competition format is a bit of a farce with the "head to head" rule outweighing a team with the same points and a better goal difference across a 3 game group stage. Even forgetting Slovakia, Portugal also did better than Italy. Yet Italy still go through although performing worse than them both.

Uefa, don't actually mention it clearly on their own web page:

http://www.uefa.com/under21/season=2017/finals/index.html


Anyway, on a positive note, England and Spain are the only 2 teams not to have lost a game so far, we also have the joint 2nd best "goal against" record across the tables & finished with the 2nd most points from the group stages. Not to mention that we have had an extra 2 days rest on Germany, so that could just give us a small edge and work in our favour.

Question, if it were purely down to you, who would you prefer England to face in the semi final? Germany or Italy?.... For me, i would choose Italy.

Anyway it is what it is.... and bring on the Krauts!

:happy:

Germany...s the Germans wrote..this is nowhere near the best German u-21 squad..the best young players (u-21) are playing in the Conf .cup..in the Con cup is at best the German 2nd team..the best younger players are there,not sure if or how many...but the German team is well below their best,so is England, but like Italia 90..Germany is there for the taking, i just hope we dont have bad luck or Germany good
Then,maybe Spain

See the Slovak manager has accused Germany and Italy of cheating..
1-0 for Italy ment they get into the s-f and Germany can play the easier team England.
Germans cheating,never:blush:, as the Germans say "you only read on the cup the winners name,not how you won it"
The Germans say ,one of their secrets to winning(u-21) is.....SINGING..together,after they win,the have a get-together and have a sing-song.
Lets hope they are very quiet tonight

Funny how experts think different
Here in Germany,they never mentioned the German "pen"?or Englands "pen"44th minute..did not think either were.
But the Germans said the 7th minute England "pen" was a 100% a penalty to England,the Germans were lucky
I also thought the 44th min was as well
Come on England

Bollox.......England lose to Germany on penalties Shocker!

Oh well, the lads did well overall to get to the semi final, and we've got a good squad for the future.

Re-arrange this phrase:

Hate ****ing I Germany it when comes penalties to. And every other time too. Very hard luck lads, you had a good tournament.

As the Germans just said on tv
Englands keeper 30 million,Germans 3!! who was better
England had 4 days off,Germany 2...
The worst of all,,"the 7 best German u-21 players are at the Con cup..
The Germans said"they were the better team"

sadly they are all right,but our commentators said again" we will learn from this" !! If thats true,then our teams must be full of Einsteins:smile:

ozzie said:

As the Germans just said on tv
Englands keeper 30 million,Germans 3!! who was better
England had 4 days off,Germany 2...
The worst of all,,"the 7 best German u-21 players are at the Con cup..
The Germans said"they were the better team"

sadly they are all right,but our commentators said again" we will learn from this" !! If thats true,then our teams must be full of Einsteins:smile:

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Pickford's been great all tournament and pulled off a number of good saves to keep England in the game.

There were at least five or six England U21s who would've walked into the squad if they hadn't played for the seniors against Scotland/France or ruled out by their parent clubs. Again, I've no idea what Southgate/Boothroyd thought Rashford would gain played out of position against the Jocks ahead of what he might've achieved in Poland.

I've no idea what our fascination with penalties is. Might I suggest that if we keep getting taken to, and losing on, penalties at major tournaments then the deeper problem is our inability to pick teams off inside 120 minutes. England had more than enough opportunities to kill the game off inside the first 15 minutes but failed to take them.

Of more concern for me would be the lack of responsibility that was taken from players out of possession, something which became hugely apparent when Chalobah came off. Will Hughes was aimless when the game was behind him and showed his immaturity/why a Premier League club hasn't taken a punt on him until now. I wouldn't exactly be enamoured with that performance if I was a Watford fan, and they're unlikely to be in a position to field luxury players like Hughes for most of next season. Baker I know has had a blinding season in the Eredivisie but he's had a poor tournament in the #10.

Pickford did well..but what the Germans ment..30 mill..3mill??
Agree with you about Rashford
The Germans can leave out players(as seen today&Con cup)...but we cannot.If you want to win things,we should take our best players(or at least most)-.
I do understand when they say,they got us there...so they play..but i think we should take our best players,get use to competition tournament

Pickford's 23 and has more than 100 league appearances (not all at the top flight, granted). He's also been within England's elite player profile from a young age, represented his age group at every level and come off the back of a great season at Sunderland. He's a top class 'keeper. I don't know much about Pollersbeck in comparison but he appears to be pretty inexperienced and without Pickford's pedigree. That's without taking into account the fact that the German league is flooded with very good 'keepers, whereas Pickford's one of about four or five who'd be first team material while meeting the Premier League's home grown criteria.

There are hundreds of factors that contribute towards a player's value, so just pointing out that Pickford cost ten times what Pollersbeck did is a little bit base.

It's worth reading Michael Calvin's latest (brilliant) book No Hunger In Paradise if you want a bit of insight into what happens at SGP and how these squads are put into place. Every squad taken to a tournament this summer has largely been chosen and nurtured for years with the intention of peaking at appropriate times.

ozzie said:

As the Germans just said on tv
Englands keeper 30 million,Germans 3!! who was better
England had 4 days off,Germany 2...
The worst of all,,"the 7 best German u-21 players are at the Con cup..
The Germans said"they were the better team"

sadly they are all right,but our commentators said again" we will learn from this" !! If thats true,then our teams must be full of Einsteins:smile:

Click to expand...

To counter the point about the best German U21 players being at the Confed Cup, Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli, Marcus Rashford and John Stones could all have been eligible for the U21s if they weren't involved with the senior squad.

Anyway, I think the recent success of our youth teams shows that there is young English talent out there but Premier League clubs need to do more to harness it. Most of the Germany team last night are first-team regulars in the Bundesliga, most of the England players aren't. That's the difference.

I agree with you SB,but unless the Prem league start giving young English players more chances(which with most clubs wont happen) we have no chance even in the future.
German clubs,what ever league,demand that they play young German players.they are German first.

Man city manager,cannot spell his name,had two big problems at Bayern..the Germans were pleased to see him go,
!..bayern expect win win the German league,but most of all for them is the Champions league.He never looked like winning it.
2..he started buy in or trying to buy foreign player(Spanish)..Bayern/Germany did not like that at all.Bayern is expected to produce Great young German players and if not buy German players ,make them better,for the national team.
The Bayern manager has bought 3 young German players this summer(also that x-Arsenal player..GR???).
Most of Germany dont like Bayern,but when they play in Europe,like all German teams,everybody gets behind them-
Would,like all of us,like to see far more young English players given more chances,but sadly,its not going to happen,in fact,imo,its going to get worse.
Look at the Championship(silly name)div2,more and more foreign players coming in,even Huddersfield Town have 5 German players in the squad.Sadly its getting worse

EastStandBlue said:

Pickford's 23 and has more than 100 league appearances (not all at the top flight, granted). He's also been within England's elite player profile from a young age, represented his age group at every level and come off the back of a great season at Sunderland. He's a top class 'keeper. I don't know much about Pollersbeck in comparison but he appears to be pretty inexperienced and without Pickford's pedigree. That's without taking into account the fact that the German league is flooded with very good 'keepers, whereas Pickford's one of about four or five who'd be first team material while meeting the Premier League's home grown criteria.

There are hundreds of factors that contribute towards a player's value, so just pointing out that Pickford cost ten times what Pollersbeck did is a little bit base.

It's worth reading Michael Calvin's latest (brilliant) book No Hunger In Paradise if you want a bit of insight into what happens at SGP and how these squads are put into place. Every squad taken to a tournament this summer has largely been chosen and nurtured for years with the intention of peaking at appropriate times.

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Judging by the Bundesliga highlights programme over the past few years, imo the German top flight seems to have a dearth of very good keepers...in fact I'd say it's quite the opposite. They look the part but just can't cut it. As for the clown they started with in the Con Cup, oh dear me, dire at best.

In England there should be a maximum of how many foriegn players a club can sign, and by foriegn i also count Irish, welsh and scottish as foriegn players. Perhaps then the youth in England will be given a good opportunity.

kaymac said:

Judging by the Bundesliga highlights programme over the past few years, imo the German top flight seems to have a dearth of very good keepers...in fact I'd say it's quite the opposite. They look the part but just can't cut it. As for the clown they started with in the Con Cup, oh dear me, dire at best.

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Neuer and Leno are fantastic 'keepers. Hoffenheim's Baumann and Timo Horn at Koln have represented Germany at every youth level. Of the top ten in last year's Bundesliga, seven #1s were German. When was the last time that happened in the Premier League?

Leno? Oh no, you jest surely? No idea of (Prem) numbers and dates, I don't keep such records, but the ability of Neuer is way above those others you've named for sure, though Baumann and Horn are pretty run-of-the-mill - good shot stoppers but little else, it's the way they're coached. As for the top teams in the Bundesliga, there is a reason why Bayern usually romp that league....

Ted's played for junior England sides but I'd not call him a top keeper...would you?

kaymac said:

Ted's played for junior England sides but I'd not call him a top keeper...would you?

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No, I wouldn't, which is why genuine, top-bracket talents like Pickford go for big bucks.

Pickford is very good and still has room to improve. Unfortunately I can't quite see Ted hittting those sort of heights......like the look of young Bexon though.

ozzie said:

I agree with you SB,but unless the Prem league start giving young English players more chances(which with most clubs wont happen) we have no chance even in the future.
German clubs,what ever league,demand that they play young German players.they are German first.

Man city manager,cannot spell his name,had two big problems at Bayern..the Germans were pleased to see him go,
!..bayern expect win win the German league,but most of all for them is the Champions league.He never looked like winning it.
2..he started buy in or trying to buy foreign player(Spanish)..Bayern/Germany did not like that at all.Bayern is expected to produce Great young German players and if not buy German players ,make them better,for the national team.
The Bayern manager has bought 3 young German players this summer(also that x-Arsenal player..GR???).
Most of Germany dont like Bayern,but when they play in Europe,like all German teams,everybody gets behind them-
Would,like all of us,like to see far more young English players given more chances,but sadly,its not going to happen,in fact,imo,its going to get worse.
Look at the Championship(silly name)div2,more and more foreign players coming in,even Huddersfield Town have 5 German players in the squad.Sadly its getting worse

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Ozzie,Watch out for Saul and Marco Asensio this evening.They're both great young players.MA played on loan with Espanyol a couple of seasons ago.A diamond in the making.